The Comedies by Terence

Author:Terence
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literary Collections, Ancient & Classical, Drama, General, Literary Criticism
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2008-01-10T05:31:36+00:00

PHORMIO

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Phormio is aptly named after the character who dominates the play. There is no one quite of his stature in any other Roman comedy – he is the genuine adventurer who lives by his wits, a far more vigorous personality than any conventional sponger such as Gnatho in The Eunuch, whose sole aim is to wheedle his way into a comfortable life. Phormio is called in almost in a professional capacity (much as old Demipho brings in his legal advisers) to help the two young men out of their difficulties, and he applies his ingenuity to the task of extracting money from their fathers more for the pleasure of exercising his skill than for what he may hope to get out of it himself. As Gilbert Norwood remarks, ‘To all seeming Phormio conducts and administers a swindle on the principle of “art for art’s sake”.’

This is pure comedy of intrigue, moving as lightly and rapidly as a French farce. Phormio is always on top of every situation, and we never doubt that he will succced; thus we are left free to concentrate on the finesse of his movements. There is no place here for the romantic touch of The Girl from Andros, the greater seriousness of The Self-Tormentor and The Mother-in-Law, or the subtlety of The Brothers, but Terence’s characters always behave consistently as human beings within the framework of comic conventions, and are more than character-types. The slave-dealer Dorio, for instance, is not abused and caricatured as he would be in a comedy by Plautus; like Sannio in The Brothers he plays a small but plausible part as a man-of-business who quite properly stands up for his legal rights. The two elderly brothers are neatly contrasted, Chremes with his anxiety to save his reputation at all costs, and Demipho, the more positive character. His meanness and obstinate determination not to part with his money cause most of the trouble, and, in the end, precipitate Phormio’s disclosure about the one thing he and Chremes are trying to conceal.

Phormio was followed very closely by Molière in Les Fourberies de Scapin, and one way of appreciating how it was possible for Terence to be a creative writer while using Greek models is to compare this lively comedy in its French setting with the Latin original.

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